Gwynedd Council Fined For Maladministration.

A council which withdrew one-to-one support for a man with learning difficulties has apologised to his mother and paid him £500 for the distress caused.

Gwynedd Council was told to take the remedial action after being found guilty of maladministration by the Public Services Ombudsman.

It follows a complaint from the mother – identified only as Mrs X – that the change had had a significant detrimental effect on her son, who was a young adult with cerebral palsy and mild learning difficulties.

He had been receiving nine hours of one-to-one support each week, but in January, 2015, the authority said the service would end, even though the client had not been reassessed.

A social worker said that the council had been “over-servicing” and that the man did not meet eligibility for one-to-one support.

Instead he was offered group sessions on alternate Saturday mornings, but the family’s GP expressed concern about the impact on him and called for the one-to-one support to be reinstated.

In response to the Ombudsman, the council accepted there had been shortcomings in the process and that alternative support should have been put in place before the one-to-one support was stopped.

As a result, greater consultation now takes place with service users and their families when changes were proposed, the council said.

Appalling behaviour from Gwynedd council social services – again.

Gwynedd social services were told last year that withdrawing support without re-assessing needs is illegal so why continue ?